


Numbers

by Never_Seen_Again



Category: Original Work
Genre: Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:55:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27890374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Never_Seen_Again/pseuds/Never_Seen_Again
Summary: A person in the woods, looking for someone who entered a few days before them.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character





	Numbers

I felt around the rough ground around me before opening my eyes, the sharp splinters of fallen branches and shattered bark digging into my palms and rousing me quicker than the dull light filtering through the sparse canopy would. As I stood, I brushed the various detritus off my clothing, taking in the barren surroundings.

I glanced up at the sky, the sun either approaching or leaving the height of its path, leaving me less time to find Aze than I would have preferred. I grabbed my bag from the ground, a few feet further from me than I usually left it.

I dug around in it until I found one of the numerous purple flags I had stashed, grabbed a bold marker, and wrote a large ‘9’ on it before stabbing it into one of the dry, brittle trees near my makeshift campsite.

I began my trek through the woods, looking for prints, pathways, blood, anything that could lead me to Aze.

A long while after the sun passed its peak and began to sink, I heard something. It could be an animal, it could be Aze, it could be something completely different. I couldn’t chance passing right by Aze.

I ran in the direction of the sound, hoping to find my purpose. I stopped after a few dozen yards, listening for the noise to guide me.

The noise had stopped for a time, but I stood listening until it rang out clearer than before, it was sobbing.

It wasn’t Aze’s cry, but still, I ventured closer to the sobbing, and found a young child sniffling as they wandered in bright yellow rain clothes along a small stream that ran through the forest.

“Are you okay? Do you need help?” The words were out of my mouth before I realized I had said them.

The child stiffened, holding back sobs as they looked over to the small hill I was standing on.

“There’s a monster,” the child said, sniffling, “It chased me into the forest and I got lost.”

The mention of a monster was a shock, and I quickly responded, “I’ll see if I can help you get back,” despite the time I would waste by doing so.

I handed the child a small bottle of water from my bag, hoping to use a method my father used whenever I cried.

As expected the child drank quickly, calming down from the constant crying from the drink’s interruption.

As I tried to find a way out of the forest from our current location, the child offered their name: “My name’s Rolley.”

I awkwardly supplied my own, “Oh, I’m Sillus.”

The child, oblivious, waited as I took a few minutes more to think, before I reasoned which direction the nearest forest edge was.

I pointed in a direction somewhere between east and southeast, “That way, just continue in that direction and you’ll find other people.”

The child ran off in the direction, the blur of bright yellow seemingly disappearing into the wooden husks plaguing the forest.

I continued my wandering, looking for signs of Aze, listening for anything in the deafening silence that rang out in the forest.

I heard a pained scream, unrecognizable from the distance warping the sound, before it was silenced seemingly less than a second later.

I ran, as swiftly as I could, towards the sound. It seemed to have originated from the south of me. The time spent running stretched on, moments seeming like hours. I ran until I saw it.

The flash of red that might have escaped my notice had I not been searching for anything red for over a week. I stopped quickly, nearly tumbling down the hill I had just crested, before slowly walking towards the red flag jutting out of the dull bark of a dead tree.

‘12’

The loop of the 2 was almost distinctly Aze’s, the line barely passing beyond the intersection.

Then I remembered the scream. I ran further south, conflicted on whether or not I wanted it to be Aze’s scream.

Not long after I began my sprint I was hit by the intoxicating stench of exposed flesh, slowing my approach before I slowly followed it, holding my hand over my mouth.

I found the source of the smell, a small opening in the side of a hill, likely leading to a long-dead animal’s abandoned den. I stepped inside, the darkness clouding my vision as my eyes began to adjust to it. 

I ventured deeper, until I found a bright yellow rain hat, scuffed with dirt, blood, and sulfur.

Then, around a bend in the descending tunnel, I saw a dark form, hovering over a stone landing which a mass of blood, meat, and bone lay in a shallow bowl of bright yellow fabric.

I saw the boney fingers dripping with viscous fluid and the pure white horns in the darkness.

I fought the urge to scream, but I lost grip on my mouth and the waterfall of saliva I was holding back came rushing out.

As my mouth cleared of the thin fluid, I ran to Aze, pulling him into my arms and said, “I finally found you.”


End file.
